KSP2 Resources: Open Workshop

[Pthigrivi]

Well since KSP2 is probably not likely to be resurrected this just a fun exercise for the oldheads, or who knows may even modders or a future dev team. Im just getting started and this will be rolling so jump in if you feel inclined. The following might seem like a lot but it'll probably get boiled down and streamlined. What Im going for is a set of basic gatherable resources which can be easily processed into basics, made into new rocket parts with more effort, and then into really advanced parts like fusion reactors and antimatter engines in the late game. If its too easy its trivial and if its too arduous its daunting or worse tedious and grindy. Im looking to strip things down just enough to get a pot of stew going. Im also assuming that resources in colonies and mining outposts will work basically like monoprop and electricity in vessels--just a pool with storage caps + inputs and outputs and no piping or belting needed.  

Raw Materials: The idea here is some of these are gaseous, liquid, or bound up in regolith on different planets and no one location will have everything. Some landing locations however might have a lucrative overlap of different ores that make it a more attractive place to set up a base or mining operation.  They could also be cleverly augmented by capturing and mining asteroids in orbit and sending resourced down to a colony on the surface. 

Carbon Dioxide
Xenon
Hydrogen
Oxygen
Methane
Water
Common Ore
Iron Ore
Carbonate Ore
Rare Metallic Ore
Uranium Ore
Water Ice
Hydrocarbon Ice
Space Dust

Fuels: Im going to stick to the proposed slate of fuels for KSP2 for now, just as a baseline assumption. 

Solid Fuel
Methane
Oxygen
Monoprop
Hydrogen
Nuclear Fuel
Xenon
Metallic Hydrogen
Antimatter

Building Materials: Im really trying to keep the intermediates down to a minimum, but I think a certain kind of staged refinement is necessary for progression; EG needing to gather and manufacture special materials in large quantities to build fancy new engines and reactors. I was tempted to include things like Aluminum, Tungsten, Copper, and Titanium but it feels like more complication than it's worth at this point. I'm including oxygen and water as building materials specifically to simplify LS management down the road (yeah Im doing it.) Im also weirdly considering Advanced Electromagnets as its own intermediate specifically as a late-game resource. 

Steel
Plastics
Electronics
Concrete
Oxygen
Water

Building Costs: I'll have to get more granular here at some point. I think electronics are kind of an important gate--because they have low mass and need a rare resource and high manufacturing overhead you'd probably start by shipping them from Kerbin. Once you build up a big enough operation it's worth making them in colonies. I have a clever idea about rocket-reusability tied to automated resource transfers that's important here down the road. Like you could automate a transfer with a reusable core and drop-tanks and all you'd need to sustain it was fuel and steel. 

Rocket Tanks: Steel + [Fuel]
Rocket Engines: Steel + Electronics
Reactors: Steel + Electronics + [Fuel]
Hab Modules: Steel + Plastic + Electronics + Water + Oxygen
Factories: Steel + Electronics + Concrete

Resource Gatherers: These would of course each come in different size variants. At some point I'll have to think about how these gathering runs can be automated for steady income. 

Mining Drill
Regolith Harvester
Liquid Pump
Atmospheric Processor
Bussard Scoop

Factories: Again this is just a decent start. I think a factory isn't really interesting if its not combining at least 2 things into something more valuable but Im not trying to go full-Factorio here. Most of these will have huge power requirements too so I'll need to think about passive energy gathering vs reactors soon. I did look at real chemistry here but its a HUGE simplification and the input/output ratios matter a lot. More to come.  

Solid Propellant Plant: Common Ore + Hydrogen + Oxygen = Solid Fuel
Methane Plant: Carbon Ore + Water or Carbon Dioxide + Hydrogen or Hydrocarbon Ice = Methane + Oxygen
Monoprop Plant: Water or Ice or Hydrogen + Oxygen = Monoprop
Hydrogen Plant: Ice or Water = Hydrogen + Oxygen or Water
Nuclear Enrichment Plant: Uranium Ore + Common Ore = Nuclear Fuel
Antimatter Plant: Hydrogen + Electronics = Antimatter
Plastics Factory: Methane + Oxygen = Plastic + Water
Steel Mill: Iron Ore + Carbonate Ore = Steel + Carbon Dioxide
Electronics Factory: Common Ore + Rare Metallic Ore = Electronics
Fertilizer Plant: Common Ore + Water = Fertilizer

I think whats fun here is based on your inputs, energy supply, and worker capacity you’re going to have different outputs and byproducts that can be stored or recombined into something useful. The ratios are everything here and I’ll have to do some noodling and mental test runs. 

Edited 15 hours ago by Pthigrivi